Big-hearted staff at the Manchester office of KPMG are warming up for the London Marathon as two colleagues recover from a trek across the Sahara Desert.

Associate partner Paul Flint and senior manager John Noon, who work in the firm's restructuring department, will on Sunday run their third consecutive London Marathon and will be joined by colleagues Richard Harrison and Luke Almond.

A week later, Luke will compete in the Greater Manchester Marathon.

The quartet will raise money for the English Federation of Disability Sport through their efforts.

They are part of a 10-strong team of marathon runners at KPMG's Manchester office who have raised a combined £20,000 for the charity in the past year.

Mr Flint said: “Over the past 12 months, there has been a momentous shift in the level of fitness within KPMG's Manchester restructuring team. Members of every grade, from associate partner through to trainee, have been spending their early mornings, evenings and weekends running on the roads and on the treadmill, pushing themselves to their physical limits.”

Meanwhile manager Andrew Leighton and analyst Claire Morton, who work in KPMG's consulting arm, joined 47 other staff at the firm nationwide on a 100km trek across the Sahara. The participants took five days to complete their journey and raised more than £130,000 for Barnardo's.

Andrew said: “The trek was a real test of our endurance and stamina. Over the course of the five days, we experienced huge sandstorms by day and massive thunderstorms at night, and also endured challenging changes in temperature – from 34 degrees during the day, down to a chilly five degrees at night.

“However, our vision and passion to help Barnardo’s kept us going through the blisters, pain and tribulations, in undertaking our trek in one of the harshest environments in the world.”